Spreading Content using Social Media

The concept of social media is different for different people- some view it as a revolution enabling people to communicate world wide, others view it as a new marketing media, while some of us wonder what the big fuss is all about.

Here are some ways to spread content/marketing communication using Social Media-

1) RSS – Really Simple Syndication has effectively proven a challenge to content creators as well as search engines.Using it effectively can make it a very nice and user friendly way to spread the words you write.

Newsletters- I use both Feedblitz ( for historical reasons) and my default feed is Google Feedburner. Google feedburner is useful especially for content leaching and security. I also like to track how people read the newsletter and Feedblitz is very good in that, but if the RSS feed is used by a RSS reader then Feedburner does a better job of tracking IMO.Note Linkedin now has a good feature for Announcements that does the same thing.
Linkedin News – In the Linkedin Group created for your Blog ( if not, do it.now) There is an option for News – add your RSS feed there for people/visitors to read it.
Facebook- Use the Facebook application called Facebook Notes for spreading your content to all your connections every time you write a post.
Linkedin WordPress Application- This updates your Linkedin profile for latest posts. Very useful for link seekers like me who have 8000+ Linkedin connections ( Note I have got 4 contracts and multiple knowledge opportunities through the links there- In a hyper Linked world every one needs as many links they can get)

2) Thid Party Sites- Create a Page to Drop Links or Create a Community to Exchange Comments/Views

Create a Facebook Page for your site and also add similar pages for Favourites- Like a FB analogy for Blogroll( Example –

Join ours at http://www.facebook.com/pages/DecisionStats/191421035186

Create a Linkedin Group ( if not done so already)

Join Decisionstats at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=54257

Create a Community on either of these ( Ning.com, Self Hosted- Wordframe.com or Buddypress.org, Yahoo Bloglog or Google Friend Connect, Facebook Friend Connect)
The biggest analytics community on Ning.com is www.analyticbridge.com
The biggest data specific community on a Wordframe Instal is www.smartdatacollective.com
Join me on Yahoo MyBlogLog at http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/decisionstats/
Join me on Google Connect on the right margin
I am yet to test out Facebook Connect

3) Twitter- Use the RSS in Step 1 ( Preferably use Feedburner than the raw xml feed to help you track) and add it to www.twitterfeed.com for automated posting of your content.

4) Use Customized Widgets- I recommend the one at Add to Any WordPress Plugin to help your readers share it on – and you CAN tweak the colors here –

http://www.addtoany.com/buttons/share_save/menu_style/wordpress

5) WordPress- The latest version of WordPress is available at both Simple Scripts ( for Self Hosted) and at www.wordpress.org

Use it for a better looking website/blog. Using custom themes and Akismet with Bad Behaviour plugins guarantees security. For more tips on WordPress security see www.dullest.com

6) Use it or Lose it-